Saturday, February 7, 2015

Wait, which people are going to leave me alone?

Because I forget. No really, I forget! I want to be engaged, I really do, but the thing is... The thing really is that I want to not be hassled. I don't think I hassle too many people, and quite honestly I want them to reciprocate.

I've been following a couple of gun-rights groups on the book of Face recently, and I've been following closely the happenings in Olympia Washington, home of the world famous beer by that name, but more to the point, home to Washington State Capitol. Things in Washington are currently... not pretty. I594 pretty much hosed the people of Washington, and I've been watching, because I fully expect that my home state just south of there is poised on the brink of that precipice. The response, though, has brought out some people that I would rather not be associated with.

As you may be aware, on January 15th, in the midst of what I would consider a good and productive rally, several people took it upon themselves to be asinine in the Capitol building. Yes, yes, I hear, 'Patriots Doing Patriot Things!' 'Shall Not Be Infringed!' etc etc, but actively handling your weapon while dressed aggressively is the right way to get shot. It's stupid, and asinine, and not goddamn helpful. It harmed the cause and it detracted from the good that was being done on other fronts. Today, that same group, with some wiser and more experienced leadership, managed to stage what I would consider to be a much less damaging, and by extension much more useful, rally in the same place. Nobody was arrested (even though they fully expected to be) and the local newspaper had to try REALLY hard to paint them as dangerous crazies, which of course we all knew to be their goal. Way to make it hard for the media to paint you as crazy, folks! This is an endeavour which I approve of. The social media fallout, however, from these various actions, is what draws my title.

See, I'm a 'Leave me Alone' party member. I don't adhere very well to any particular outside dogma, I'm lousy at toeing the party line, and I'm a devout skeptic and questioner of authority. In short, I'm not a joiner. As such, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that there are some people on the side of 'Liberty' that are absolutely every bit as dangerous as the people who are their political enemies. I've seen posts by people that should be natural allies that accuse each other of not only political errors, but of deep and irreconcilable character flaws, of TREASON. Treason, of all things! Look, anyone who wants to read the constitution of these United States can find the definition of treason! It's ludicrous to accuse someone of the highest crime against your country because they would rather wear a tie and try to work inside the legislative system. What it really boils down to is ideological purity, and guess what?

I AM NEVER GOING TO MEET YOUR STANDARDS FOR IDEOLOGICAL PURITY.

NEVER.

In fact, there are many times in my life when I will happily change my views on any given subject just to be a pain in the ass to people that think they know what's best for the world. It's my nature. And come the revolution... well, come the revolution, I'm damn sure not going to change. And it is without a single doubt that I state these people who purport themselves to be 'Patriots, fighting to retake our country' would shoot me in the face for failing to live up to their standards. They would be just as ruthless as the Communists, the Nazis (to hell with your Godwin's law, I'm not discarding what is the biggest example of injudicious batshit crazy of the last four generations because people point fingers and say 'but Godwin's law! See above, re: conformity.), the Hutu, and Slobodan Milosevic. It is my suspicion that the person most likely to institute a concentration camp in this country is Joe Arpaio, and person most likely to institute forced 're-education' is Elizabeth Warren. Read that twice, also, before anyone yells libel. I have simply stated my own suspicions. These 'Patriots' are zealots at a very high level, and a true zealot will justify nearly any action if it satisfies their internal belief system.

So which group is it that will leave me alone? Which group is it that will let me live as I want to do, with a minimum of outside influence. Hmm?